Wednesday, November 18, 2015

I personally follow the blog, "A Beautiful Mess", and I think you might enjoy it, too. Written by two sisters, Elsie Larson and Emma Chapman, it is really a (homemade) lifestyle blog for many things and there are great ideas for food and cooking. This popped up in my feed this morning and I wanted to share because I am very-much planning to use these ideas over the holiday season. I love natural scents: things that have absolutely no whiff of being packaged with preservatives. Nothing is more revolting to me than the "smack you in your face" scent of fake cinnamon that hits you when you enter certain craft stores during this season. Enough already! It is a tradition to create clove-studded lemons to place in bowls around the house. These natural scents flow nicely with that idea.
Read on....SCRAPBOOK SUNDAY: NOVEMBER MESSY BOXTILED COUNTERTOP DIY (NO SAW REQUIRED!)

You guys know I have a deep and abiding love for all things cozy. I have shared my go-to stove simmer recipe in the past but wanted to branch out and try some new recipes this year.

If you've never used a stove simmer, here are the basics! You fill pot with water and some ingredients that will create a lovely smell, then you leave it simmering on low heat and your home will fill with the scent. It's natural and smells stronger than any candle I've ever used. You can use it for a couple days (refilling the water as it get low) and it will keep working, although it gets REAL ugly by the end. If you've never tried it, I insist you must!

This simmer is light and fresh. I made is specifically for those of you who don't love the heavy spice scent (which I do love!). After an hour of burning, it wasn't quite strong enough for me. So I added a few sprigs of eucalyptus and an extra cinnamon stick and you could smell the light fragrance throughout all our living areas. So fresh and clean!